Thailand – Go Gym, Chiang Mai

Opening hours: 8am to 12amPrice: 60 bhat for a day pass (approx £1.40)

Like the look of this gym? If you want to stay nearby then you can check out the links to hotels within walking distance at the end of this article.

Review: Every time I think I have seen it all, I come across a gym which redefines what is possible. Go Gym is one of these places and this gym has literally everything.

Before I get into the equipment lists and what they offer, it is worth noting a few things about the sheer size of this gym. Go Gym is based in an open-sided warehouse at the edge of the Chiang Mai and as such it is able to do things on a scale that most gyms could only dream of. As well as a cardio area the size of most of the other gyms I saw in Chiang Mai, Go Gym also has three full sets of dumbbells and benches, three sets of cables, a kickboxing area which includes a full sized ring and punch bags, several matted areas for stretching or yoga and a large “street training area” worthy of Ninja Warrior. Some serious thought has gone into this place and as a result, it is able to offer all things to all men. Sorry. All people. Bad man.

From chatting with some of the locals, it seems that in the two years since this gym was open they have continually added new equipment to their gym and are always seeking to improve things.

This gym includes:

Three sets of Dumbbells up to 125 lbs (Approx 50kg)

Many adjustable benches

3 Smith machines

3 Squat racks

Truck tyre deadlift

Truck tyre squat

Truck type bench

Three cables

Incline barbell bench

Decline barbell bench

Several Flat barbell benches

Two pec decs

Incline chest machine

Decline chest machine

Cable seated chest machine

Squat machine

Lat pulldown

Seated cable low row

Lat pulldown machine

Low row machine

Underhand pulldown machine

Cable lat pulldown

Leg press

Leg extension

Leg curl

Reverse fly machine

Thigh abductors

Several kinds of ab machines

Assisted dips / pull ups bar

Easy bar

Hammer curl bar

Fixed weight straight bars

Fixed weight easy bars

Punch bags x 2

Kickboxing ring

Exercise bikes

Treadmills

Cross trainers

Rowing machines

Street workout course

Twin bars

Battle ropes

Vertical rope

The gym also has decent changing rooms, lockers and free wifi throughout.

And the price of access to this incredible, almost spiritual, place? 60 bhat per day or 900 bhat per month. Let me put that into context, that is about £1.40 for a day pass. Insanity.

And I am leaving this review like this after Go Gym didn’t even bother to respond to my request for a free day pass in return for a spot on my blog. Yes, I am trying to sell out, but so far no-one is interested in buying.

If you are looking for this place, you will see that there is another gym close by called O2 Gym. On my second day in Chiang Mai, I actually went to train somewhere different and have a second gym to review for this city but I walked in and straight out again because it couldn’t hold a candle to Go Gym. I checked out another couple of gyms when I walked past them in the city and none of them come anywhere near to slightly close to this one. Honestly, don’t even bother looking anywhere else in Chiang Mai. Don’t do a disservice to your workout.

As well as the gym, they also have a protein bar where you can buy water, protein shakes or a variety of bullshit vegan crap. They also sell fruit and sandwiches if you need a quick meal after your workout. They have their own range of clothing too, but since I can hardly shut my backpack at the moment I was forced to give this a miss. I did manage to get a tub of protein here though. A 2.2kg tub costs me 2500 bhat, which is about £50. But, at 74 servings a tub it still works out cheaper than buying shakes on a daily basis. I also bought a tasty protein brownie for 80 bhat, which was pretty good on the snack scale, rather than just being pretty good for a protein snack. Basically, this is unheard of. You can also buy shakers, gloves, belts and even lifting straps here. I have been trying to find a pair of straps for ages and no-one has even seemed to understand what they were. I picked up a pair here for 150 bhat, which is about £3. I am looking forward to getting back to a 140kg deadlift sometime soon!

Who is this gym for? The atmosphere in this gym is great and a mile away from some of the shirtless meathead type gyms of Cambodia. On the two days I was here I saw every strand of society training in this gym, from old thai ladies to biker gang members and everything in between. The gym is also popular with Farangs (which is what the Thais call Westerners. Of all the places that I have trained in Thailand, this place contained more absolute monsters than any other gym. After weeks of being the biggest, and strongest, guy in most of the Cambodian gyms I trained it, it was good to see some of these guys making such giant lifts and remind me that there is always room for improvement. I would recommend this gym to everyone. The only down side is that the location is on the north side of town, meaning it may not be accessible easily to those staying in the Old Town.

Tips: If it sounds like I am on this gym’s nuts, its because I am. Deep. If I lived in Chiang Mai, I would train here everyday and would probably own a t-shirt with the gym logo on. Being around bigger and stronger lifters keeps me motivated and means that you always have the chance to learn something new. Go Gym is the kind of place where you end up learning simply by osmosis. With so much equipment, you have the opportunity to continually evolve your workouts and vary your training, which is so important to avoid plateauing. Great gym. Great price. A+.